


He Followed Me Home. Can I Keep Him?

by GutterBall



Series: Old Dog, New Tricks [6]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Cussing, Fluff and Smut, M/M, the awkward turtles are finally learning to communicate like non-awkward turtles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-05-17
Packaged: 2018-06-09 03:53:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6888919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GutterBall/pseuds/GutterBall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Follows right after the events of Puppy Kisses. Chuck can't immediately talk about claiming. It's so personal for him, because it's one of the last things he shared with his mother. Plus, there's sex to be had. But he really, really doesn't want Raleigh to question how much Chuck wants to be with him, so... he talks.</p><p>They really are getting better at this communication thing. And Herc may never not have heart eyes again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He Followed Me Home. Can I Keep Him?

**Author's Note:**

> No, there is no knotting. Raleigh is very relieved. He was... concerned.

They didn't talk about claiming when they woke up.

Chuck wouldn't admit it out loud, but he quite liked Raleigh being so attentive as he bundled him off to the showers so the solicitous sod could change the sheets and fluff the pillows and lay out bottles of water for them both. And whilst the bloke took his own shower -- after something of an interrogation about whether Chuck really felt fine or was just saying it so Raleigh would leave him alone -- Chuck was too distracted with smiling as he sliced a wedge of cheese and a ham he'd swiped from the kitchens to think about how to explain it.

And when the gorgeous bastard emerged from the bathroom, naked and damp and still steaming from the heat, Chuck was too busy plotting all the ways he planned to ravage every inch of the bloke he loved. Right after a snack. And some cuddling.

 _Naked_ cuddling.

That, of course, led to Chuck stroking the pretty bloke open until Raleigh lost all ability to make words happen besides "please" and "Chuck". And when he finally, finally slid into that clutching heat, whispering breathless praises against the heated skin of Raleigh's throat, he only knew that he wanted this forever, whatever it took. God help him, he never wanted to give it up.

So, as they lie together afterward, Raleigh stroking his back, Chuck's face snuggled up under Raleigh's jaw, he sighed and started talking.

"When we knew that first kaiju wasn't just a fluke and Dad said he was staying in service to fight, Mum and I... had a conversation."

The broad chest he was sprawled over lifted on a sharp intake of breath, but Raleigh didn't say a word. Chuck knew, however, that he was listening intently.

"She said she didn't know what would happen, and I was too young to have to learn all this at once, but... she...." Swallowing hard, he turned further into the bloke's neck. "'Nothing lasts forever, Charlie,' she said. So she wanted me to know... certain things. Things no one else could teach me. At least no one she knew."

Raleigh's fingers stroked up into his hair, the gesture impossibly comforting. Some of the tension left him, and he sighed again.

"She said we're not immortal, though we age quite slowly. We're immune to disease and heal from almost anything, but it's just accelerated healing, not magic, so we shouldn't push our luck." Somehow, he found a grin. "Not gonna lie, mate. She gave me The Look when she said that one."

The rotten sod snickered. "Not even a little bit surprised."

Feeling better still, he let himself take comfort from the bloke's warmth and general feeling of solidity. _Safety._ "She told me the bit as how shifters who've been bitten can't transfer the ability, but born shifters can. And she told me that someday, if I found someone who felt like part of me, I might want them to _become_ part of me."

The gentle stroking paused, but Raleigh didn't interrupt. And soon enough, he went right back to stroking fingers through Chuck's hair.

"That's what claiming is?"

Taking one last, long inhale of Raleigh's scent, he finally sat up, straddling slim hips and glad they'd cleaned up a bit before collapsing together in a heap. Watching the bloke's expression and keeping his own neutral, he held out his left arm, his fingers slightly curled but not a fist.

"We each make a small cut here--" He traced a finger across his wrist. "--and here." Another line over the swell of his forearm, about a hand's breadth down from the crease of his elbow. "We clasp forearms, lining up the cuts, and share blood until the cuts heal."

To his credit, Raleigh looked interested, rather than sickened. Encouraged, Chuck finished up.

"Our blood doesn't die unless it's exposed to open air, so... it stays. Forever. A bit of you living in me. A bit of me living in you." He shrugged. "Nothing metaphysical about it. Nothing more binding than a legal marriage, I reckon. Just... we carry around a bit of each other as long as we live."

One corner of the bloke's mouth quirked up. "Is it weird that I kinda find that romantic?"

Grinning a bit himself, he ran his hands over the impressive topography of the bloke's stomach. "One fuck of a lot stronger a statement than roses and chocolate, yeah?"

"Hey, now." The silly sausage laid his hands on Chuck's thighs and ran them up and down. "Let's not dismiss roses and chocolate out of hand."

"I'm not buying you roses, ya rotten sod."

Oh, Jesus, there were the puppy eyes. "What about chocolate?"

He pretended to think about it a moment, though he was far more interested in the feeling of Raleigh's strong hands kneading the muscle of his thighs. Then, he bit his lower lip and shifted his hips the slightest bit. "I could be persuaded."

With a completely unnecessary -- and incredibly distracting -- flex of his abs, the pretty bloke sat up and looked up at him through those fuck-all lashes, the blue of his eyes as hazy as the end of a sultry summer day.

"Persuaded how?"

His breath suddenly felt short. Just like that, he was ready to go again. And again.

He slid his hands up and cupped that handsome face. "Promise you'll let me lick it off you?"

The gorgeous bastard sighed out a shaky breath. "Deal."

There wasn't a lot of talk after that.

\--

When another two days passed without Raleigh bringing it up again, Chuck grit his teeth and decided it was his turn to... broach a subject. To open up and communicate like a grown-up. Well, like a well-adjusted grown-up, which neither of them was but both were trying to be.

Admittedly, they'd been catching up on all the sex they hadn't been having, so there wasn't exactly a lot of time for discussion about their future. No matter how much time they spent nuzzling each other and cuddling afterward.

So, armed with comfortable clothes and grim determination, he tracked the bloke down whilst he was still a puppy, hoping that bellyrubs would make up for the fact that they needed to talk about things. Raleigh and Max had gone off for a romp a good two hours before, but Chuck definitely wanted to find them before either Herc or Mori stumbled onto the scene and interrupted just when Chuck finally had his courage up.

Plus watching the silly sausage tug on Max's ears whilst they played tail tag -- or ear tag, since Max didn't have much of a tail -- had the effect of instantly calming Chuck down and leaving him grinning fondly at the duo. He hadn't expected them to hit it off so well, but he wasn't displeased with the results. Not once Raleigh explained why he sometimes preferred Max's simple dog company to Chuck's.

"Oi, you two finished fucking about yet?"

Raleigh spun around and yipped adorably at him, gamboling over on those short little puppy legs. It was stupidly cute. Chuck didn't even try not to smile about it as he crouched down for the requisite greeting.

"What'd I say about trying to slip me the tongue whilst you're a puppy?" Snickering, he scruffed behind both ears until the wriggly little bastard made happy puppy noises. "It's weird, dammit. Makes me feel like I'm robbing the cradle."

Max trotted over for some attention, tongue hanging out and grinning ear to ear, so Chuck gave his old mate a little love, too. When he was sure he wasn't neglecting his affection duties to his fur brother, he scruffed the neck wrinkles one last time and grinned.

"Go find Dad, yeah? I'm stealing my puppy back for a bit."

Raleigh yipped, tail wagging up a breeze, but good ol' Max just whuffed, nuzzled the little blighter, and headed off into the shatterdome. Such a good dog.

When they were alone, Chuck gestured for Raleigh to roll onto his back. Panting happily, the adorable bastard did so, tail still wagging hard enough to move the whole of his little body. Chuck grinned, unable to help himself, and sat down at the silly bloke's side.

Bellyrubs ensued.

After blissful moments filled with happy puppy noises and the satisfaction of knowing just the right pressure to use for maximum effectiveness, Chuck sighed and bit the bullet.

"We're trying to get better at talking things out, yeah?"

An affirmative puppy noise, interspersed with wiggling and leg kicks as the bellyrubs continued.

"So... I was thinking that... we talked about something important the other day, but we've not mentioned it since, yeah?" He tried to keep the optimal pressure going, though he felt himself tensing up. "Normally, I'd keep my stupid mouth shut for fear of saying something I can't take back, but that's sort of why it took us so long to have sex, yeah? 'Cause neither of us wanted to bring it up and maybe say the wrong thing."

The wriggling slowed, and the puppy version of the man he loved blinked up at him until he quit rubbing and just left his big hand splayed over the plump little belly. Chuck had no idea what to make of that look, other than that Raleigh was listening and knew it was serious.

The bellyrubs were over.

Shrugging and well aware that he couldn't possibly look nonchalant, he forced half a grin. "Guess I'm asking if... we want to claim each other. Or not." The grin fell and he swallowed hard. "Because I don't want to ignore this until it goes away. I... I don't _want_ it to go away, yeah?"

The bloke shifted right there under his hand. One moment, his palm covered the whole of that soft little belly. The next, he spread his fingers over satin skin and cobblestone abs that flexed as the gorgeous sod sat up enough to lean back on his hands.

"Are you saying you want to claim me?"

He'd never get over the change from puppy yips to that deep voice. It sent shivers down his spine every time. He licked his lips and swallowed, his throat dry for another reason entirely.

"I'm saying I want us to claim each other, yeah?" He glanced away, feeling stupidly shy and nervous and unable to see whatever answer might be in the bloke's eyes before he spoke. "I want to carry a bit of you around with me forever. To know a bit of me is always with you."

Gentle fingers touched his chin, his jaw, and turned his face back to Raleigh's. Oh, thank God, but the bloke was smiling softly.

"Chuck Hansen." The smile tilted a bit, almost a smirk. "Romantic as fuck."

He snorted, surprised and relieved and... hopeful?

"Is that a yes?"

The gorgeous wanker leaned in. "It's a yes."

They kissed for a frankly irresponsible length of time, given that Raleigh was still naked as the day he was born as he moved to straddle Chuck's lap. And Chuck felt... light. Like he'd never felt in his life.

He hadn't realized until just now how resigned he'd been to his chosen fate of likely dying in the fight against the kaiju, how much he'd ignored the fact that he had an actual future now and should probably be doing something to fill it. Like it hadn't really settled in that they _won._ They beat the bastards and closed the Breach.

But now... Jesus, he felt like he'd finally won something _real,_ something tangible he could hold in his hands. Something that would stay.

Then, the rotten sod chuckled.

A bit annoyed -- not drastically so; just... he was having a moment of enlightenment, dammit -- Chuck pulled away just enough to grunt. "Really, Becket? Now?"

"Sorry, sorry." Another kiss. "Just... did you really think I'd say no?"

He pulled away further and shot the wanker a droll look. "It may have escaped your notice, but I can be a bit of an asshole, yeah?" The drollery faded, and he shifted and looked away, suddenly uncomfortable. "Didn't know if you weren't mentioning it again because you didn't know how I felt or... because you didn't want me at all but didn't want to say so."

Raleigh sighed and stroked his hands down Chuck's arms. "So you decided to speak up and get it all out in the open."

He nodded, but he couldn't meet the bloke's eyes.

"I'm glad you did."

His eyes widened, and he finally managed eye contact. "Yeah?"

The silly saugage chuckled sheepishly and shrugged. "Not like I had a clue how to bring it back up. Every time I tried, I chickened out and kissed you instead, and we'd end up having sex."

He smirked, starting to think it was okay to feel enormously relieved. "Oh, what a shame."

"Right? Not the worst diversionary tactic, by any stretch."

"Hn." He stole another kiss. "So... we're doing this, yeah?"

"Yeah." Another kiss. "Is there, like, a ritual to it? Does it have to be at a certain time? Because -- since we're being open and honest here -- there's no time like the present."

His heart fluttered. Honest to God _fluttered._ He hated it. It was stupid.

But he kind of liked it, too.

Blushing a bit, he settled his hands in the small of the bloke's back, just above the swell of that perfect ass. "Uh... no ritual or anything. 'S not magic, yeah?" But he paused and frowned a bit. "Actually, there might be something a bit... metaphysical... to it, after all." When Raleigh's eyebrows went up, he shrugged. "Mum said... well, she didn't know one way or the other herself, but she said the bloke that told her everything she knew said... the cuts would scar."

Those eyebrows went up further still, and Raleigh sat back in Chuck's lap, hands on his thighs. "Huh."

Unsure how to take either the scrutiny or the response, he shrugged again. He hadn't really thought about that part earlier. He didn't even know why.

"Are you okay with that?"

It was Chuck's turn to raise his eyebrows. "Are you?"

To his surprise, the pretty wanker snorted a bit. "Chuck, I'm a walking assortment of scars. What's two more in the grand scheme of things?" Wryly amused, the silly sod prodded Chuck's chest. "But what about you, Mr. Pristine?"

Ah. Maybe _that's_ why he hadn't really remembered that part. He was born a shifter, after all. Didn't have so much as a pockmark on him.

But really, it wasn't even a question. Smiling softly without meaning to, he traced his thumbs over the satiny skin under his hands.

"Honestly, mate? I rather like the idea that the only permanent mark I'll ever have is from you."

Blue eyes widened, and those perfect lips parted on a soft intake of breath.

"Goddammit, Chuck."

And before he could wonder whether or not he'd said the right thing, the gorgeous bastard kissed him so hard they both fell over and completely forgot that they were in public. And the clothes Chuck had prudently brought with him.

It was a long, long time before Raleigh bothered putting them on.

\--

Over the course of the next twenty-four hours, Chuck managed to dodge all inquiries from Herc and watched with genuine amusement from a safe distance as Raleigh finally gave up and shifted whilst Mori tried to interrogate him in the mess hall about what the two of them were up to. If he lived a thousand years, Chuck didn't think he'd see anything as funny as his tiny golden retriever puppy cowering behind Max's solid bulk whilst Mako Mori towered over them both, shaking a fist and insisting that being adorable was cheating and Raleigh ought to be above such blatant manipulation.

Chuck wasn't at all ashamed of himself for fucking off before Mori could see him and turn her gimlet gaze on him. Besides, he had things to sort.

An excursion to storage, a borrowed Jeep, and a ferry ride to the mainland had netted him everything he could think of, and by tea time, he took a critical look around his bunk and slowly nodded. Just right.

Hopefully.

Raleigh, good bloke that he was, showed up right on time, and Chuck stood back against the closet door to really take in the reaction. He wasn't disappointed.

"...Oh...."

He'd scrounged the small table and two chairs from storage, but the wine-colored tablecloth, ivory cloth napkins, silverware, and glassware had come from the half-forgotten pantry in the back of the kitchen. Two covered dishes sat on opposite sides of the table, a bottle of wine uncorked and breathing off to one side. Yes, he'd used his clout as a jaeger pilot to coerce a fancy restaurant into allowing take-out when they usually frowned upon such a thing. No, he didn't feel even a little bit bad about it.

Finally, the centerpiece was a bowl of red roses, a small box of chocolate truffles, and two lit taper candles in honest-to-God candlesticks. Why the hell a florist had genuine silver candlesticks on hand was beyond him, but he was grateful as hell for it as he watched Raleigh look from one extravagance to the next like he wasn't sure he was really seeing what was before him.

Grinning, he shoved away from the wall and strolled over to take the gape-mouthed bloke's hand and lead him closer to the table. "You wanted roses and chocolate, yeah?"

The hand in his tightened, but the poor sod still didn't speak.

His grin softening at the continued stymie, he leaned over and kissed a pale cheek. "Chuck Hansen, romantic as fuck, yeah?"

It worked. Raleigh snorted, rolling some of the bewildered surprise and finally looking away from the set-up to eye Chuck full-on.

"You never do anything by halves, do you?"

He shrugged, happy and not afraid to show it. "Not when it's important."

The bloke glanced at the candles and the wine and the roses and shook his head, grinning crookedly. "No one's ever done anything like this for me before."

His eyebrows rose. "Really?"

Raleigh shook his head, and Chuck couldn't help himself. That expression was entirely too complex for tonight. So, he touched the bloke's jaw until he turned his head, then kissed him lightly.

"Their loss, yeah?"

That got the silly sod's full attention, and the complexity faded away on a chuckle. "If you say so."

Smirking, he tilted his head at the elegant as fuck dinner he'd wrangled for them, and Raleigh was quick to silently agree. Soon enough, they settled on opposite sides of the table with glasses of a roscato the bloke at the restaurant suggested because neither Chuck nor Raleigh had ever tried wine before and removed the covers from their dinners.

The heady smell of expensive food wafted up, and Chuck would be a liar if he didn't admit to drooling a bit as he sniffed. Filet mignon, bacon-wrapped scallops on a skewer, broiled asparagus, roasted baby potatoes with a creamy butter sauce, and tiny cups of lobster bisque steamed up at them, and for a moment, they both just... breathed.

"Chuck?"

Embarrassingly aware that he'd been hovering over his plate with his eyes closed, trying to inhale his food through his nose, Chuck flushed a bit and jerked back in his seat. Thankfully, Raleigh looked almost as blissed-out as Chuck felt, so he let it go without comment.

"Yeah?"

"This is the best meal I've ever had."

He wanted to snort, but the best he could manage was a crooked grin. "You've not eaten anything yet."

A slow grin stretched that perfect mouth, and the bloke's eyes twinkled. From the candlelight, of course. "I stand by my statement."

Blushing but pleased, he picked up his knife and fork. "Wanker. Eat up before it gets cold."

"Amen to that."

But the wanker was right. It was far and away the best meal Chuck had ever eaten. The filet mignon melted on his tongue, juicy and tender and delectable. The scallops were sweet and buttery against the bacon's saltiness, the crisp and soft another perfect contrast. The asparagus was also crisp and almost nutty, the potatoes tender and herbed to perfection. He didn't even have words for the lobster bisque. It was bliss in a little ceramic cup.

Even the wine, which he might not have liked otherwise, was just sweet enough to complement the dry of it, the sharp flavor somehow complementing everything on his plate. If Raleigh's occasional soft sound of bliss was any indication, the bloke was having something of a religious experience with his own plate, and Chuck did not blame him. He'd only refilled his wine glass once, but he felt almost drunk with the heady indulgence of it all, and he finally understood why people bothered with all this romance shite when it was bloody expensive and a goddamn inconvenience to set up.

In fact, as he slowly traced the last half of a potato through the remains of its creamy sauce, he knew he'd do this all over again. And again. Any time he felt like it.

He reckoned Raleigh wouldn't mind.

When they both finished, Raleigh leaned his elbows on the table, tracing a finger around the rim of his wine glass while Chuck sprawled back in his chair, debating whether or not unbuttoning his trousers would ruin the mood.

"How about next time, we get dressed to the nines, and I take you to wherever the hell you got this food and treat _you?"_

He grinned, again feeling his stupid heart flutter. Again, sort of liking it. "The closest thing I have to a suit is my dress blues, mate, and by this point, they could probably stand up on their own."

The silly sod chuckled, those blue eyes still twinkling, though the candles had burned down enough that they shouldn't still be reflecting. "I don't even have that, but we'll work it out."

The soft surety of the statement -- that there _would_ be a next time, that Raleigh wanted to spend an evening like this with him again, that he wanted them to be out and about in public together where just anyone could see -- left a warm feeling in Chuck's chest, and he fiddled with his wine glass's stem whilst he tried to wrangle that feeling into something he could hold onto. He already knew he loved the bloke, but this felt... different. Fondness and love and anticipation and relief all at once.

Raleigh Fucking Becket would be the death of him.

Grinning, he finally managed to look at the bloke without emulating his old man's embarrassing heart eyes. "I'd like that."

"Me, too." The soft smile quirked further up on one side. "So do we nick each other before or after dessert?"

He licked his lower lip and bit it gently, eyeing the pretty bastard as he sat slowly forward. "Since I plan on smearing those truffles all over you and licking them off as slowly as possible... I vote before."

Again, the bloke's lips parted on a quick inhale -- not quite a gasp but close. "Jesus."

His eyebrows waggled without his permission, but since it made the silly sod chuckle and shake off some of the renewed stymie, Chuck counted it a win. Smirking, he stood away from the table and went to the counter, where he'd stashed away one last parcel from his trip to the mainland. For this one, he'd had to go directly to Chau. He probably could have found something similar in any trinket shop on the Hong Kong coast, but he wasn't in the mood for comparison shopping. He just wanted what he wanted and fast, and he knew Chau would have the stock.

So, he placed the oblong, crimson velvet box on the table to the side of Raleigh's plate, then busied himself with moving the candles off to one side and stacking everything together, leaving only the roses, the truffles, the wine glasses, and the box behind.

"Go on, then."

He wasn't sure he wanted to see the bloke's expression when Raleigh opened the box, but he snuck quick glances anyway as he tried to quietly pile everything in the basin to wash later. For a moment, he wasn't sure the unpredictable wanker would open it at all. Finally, just as Chuck turned back for the table, he did.

A pair of gleaming, bone-handled knives rested on the bed of crimson satin inside. Not too ornamental, no showy scrollwork or scrimshaw. Just curved lengths of smooth quicksilver blade and highly polished ivory handles.

Bemused, the bloke just stared at them. "Kaiju?"

He nodded and sat down carefully, as if he feared a sudden movement would spook the poor sod. "Didn't want to use a pocket knife for something like this, but I didn't want anything too flash, either." He forced a casual shrug. "And since we'd have never met if not for the kaiju...."

Understanding dawned, and Raleigh nodded. "I get it. A keepsake."

He'd been thinking a memento, but it amounted to the same thing. It would already be an event to remember, but he'd wanted something tangible. Something he could take out later and look at, hold in his hand. Something for both of them.

Plus he wasn't sure the cuts wouldn't heal too fast for a claiming if they both had to use the same blade.

Without another word, Raleigh picked out one of the knives and scooted the box across the table. Chuck took the cue and picked up the other, watching the flickering candlelight chase along the blade, along the polished handle.

"Chuck, are you sure?"

Blinking slowly, he looked over at the gorgeous bloke he had somehow, impossibly, stumbled onto. "Never been more sure in my life, love."

Taking a deep breath, Raleigh extended his left arm and touched the blade to his inner forearm, a good hand's-breadth down from the crease of his elbow. Chuck did the same, then looked up and caught Raleigh's eyes with his own. Their gazes locked, and they both made a small cut. Another just above the bracelets of fortune. Still caught in each other's gazes, they reached out and clasped arms.

Though they hadn't measured or even really looked down, the lines matched up well enough. The cuts tingled slightly as they healed, a familiar sensation for Chuck, at least, but when the tingling faded, he found he couldn't let go just yet. Couldn't look away.

They'd done something that couldn't be taken back, and they both knew it. Wide-eyed, they clung to each other and stared, wordless. Nothing had really happened, but it felt... momentous.

What would they do now? Where would they live? Would they keep hopping back and forth from room to room? Would they tell everyone? Would they stay in the PPDC knowing that the kaiju would come back at some point and they might not be able to fight them off next time? Could they bear to leave when the PPDC had become their home, their family?

And then, Raleigh smiled. It was a small thing, barely a curve of those pretty lips, but it shot down every single question that had reared an ugly head. If Raleigh could smile like that, everything was fine.

So Chuck smiled, too, and without letting go, they both stood away from the table. Chuck scooped up the box of truffles. Raleigh smirked and tugged him over to the bed.

The sheets would never be the same.

Neither of them cared.

\--

He couldn't stop looking at them. Even fully awake, dressed, sitting on the edge of his bed, and ready to head for the mess hall for breakfast when Raleigh finished brushing his teeth, Chuck could not stop staring at those two tiny white lines on his otherwise unblemished skin.

He'd never had scars before. He couldn't quite get used to having them now.

"Still wondering if you did the right thing?"

Despite the serious tone of the question, Raleigh knelt behind him on the bed and wrapped himself around him. The warm weight of the bloke settled something deep inside.

"Knew that the second we did it, mate." It was the truth. "Just... they don't feel any different, yeah? I thought they'd feel... different."

Careful fingers traced over one line, then the other. "Some scars never stop hurting. Some, you barely even know are there."

And Raleigh Becket would fucking well know.

Sighing, Chuck turned his head until their temples leaned together. "I'll always know these ones are here." He grinned a bit. "But they don't hurt at all, yeah?"

He felt the pretty bloke's cheek move and guessed Raleigh was smiling. His voice confirmed it. "We should put in a requisition for a couple's berth. _Queen-sized bed."_

Smirking, he tilted his head away and grinned at the cheeky fuck. "I know a guy, yeah? Got connections."

That got an actual laugh, and they both climbed off the bed to leave, though there was a good deal of kissing and a bit of groping before they actually managed to go. And it was hard not to look down at his arm every few steps, just to make sure those scars were still there.

Raleigh proved an excellent distraction, though, and they were their usual snarking selves by the time they hit the buffet line. Thus, Chuck was caught completely flatfooted when a hand slapped away the spoon he'd just filled with eggs and jerked his hand out from under the sneeze guard. Curses already crowding on his tongue, he started to unleash his temper when he realized it was just Herc.

Who was staring, wide-eyed and dumbstruck, at the scars he'd only just managed to not think about.

Before he could determine whether the old man was pissed off or thrilled by this development, Herc looked up from the exposed arm, and... oh.

Oh, _shit._

Heart eyes.

And then, the bastard flung his arms around Chuck's neck and hauled him in for an embarrassing -- but warm and very tight -- hug. There might have been sniffling, but Chuck would never tell.

And just when he got used to the sensation, Herc let him go only to fling himself on Raleigh, who damn near dropped his tray to catch the huggy old bastard. It would've been funny if he hadn't caught a hint of a gleam in Herc's eyes that matched the sniff Chuck wouldn't mention.

Then, just like that, Herc let go, did an about-face, and left the mess hall. Because he was the marshal, no one stared.

Except Chuck. And Raleigh.

Finally, Raleigh huffed quietly. "Somehow, I don't think we'll have to requisition too hard."

Smiling after his old man, Chuck elbowed the gorgeous sod. "Somehow, I think he already has the paperwork filled out."

Raleigh laughed, and Chuck finished scooping his eggs, and when he glanced down again, the scars were still there.

Life... was good.

**THE END**


End file.
